Carphone Warehouse
Carphone Warehouse Europe’s biggest mobile retailer, is to expand internationally with a move into America.
The group, which was built from scratch by Charles Dunstone, its chief executive, is preparing to open a handful of trial stores in New York. It is expected to form a partnership with Best Buy, the American electronics retail giant, and will initially use the Best Buy brand.
The US business will offer impartial advice on all the main mobile brands, just as Carphone does in the UK. However, by teaming up with an established retail giant and opening only a handful of test stores, Carphone will aim to mitigate risks and assuage investor concerns. The US, which has four big mobile players — T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Cingular and Sprint, with more than 184 million customers — has nothing similar to an independent middleman such as Carphone. Instead, the big carriers focus on their own standalone stores.
